There have been many, many
Chuck Berry
compilations released by
Chess
over the years, but as of the spring of 2006, there was no comprehensive single-disc set in print; there was the double-disc 2005 set
Gold
, which itself was a retitled reissue of 2000's
Anthology
, but the classic comp
The Great Twenty-Eight
was long out of print, and nothing had replaced it until the 2006 release of
The Definitive Collection
. This generous 30-track selection offers nearly everything that was on
and in nearly the same sequence --
"Brown Eyed Handsome Man"
and
"Roll Over Beethoven"
are swapped, for instance, but it's not really a noticeable change.
"Bye Bye Johnny"
is the only song missing from
, which is not a huge omission, especially since it's been replaced with two great singles,
"You Never Can Tell"
"Promised Land."
"My Ding-A-Ling"
is also here and, while it is a worse song than
"Bye Bye Johnny,"
it was
Chuck
's only number one single, so its inclusion makes sense -- and it hardly sinks a collection that is by far the best, most comprehensive single-disc
set yet assembled. Sure, there are some great
Berry
songs that are absent, but all the major songs are here; plus, if you need more than 30 songs, turn to either
or
The Chess Box
. If you want a single-disc best-of collection of all of
's finest, this is the one to get. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine